Friday, September 7, 2018

HILLTOP DINER CAFE

Literally between the Langley and Aldergrove border situates Hilltop Diner, a diner that has been around for over 60 years! Hilltop Diner was featured on You Gotta Eat Here! and filmed in popular movies such as The Butterfly Effect (which I recall enjoying and watched a few times!) and TV series, Supernatural.

We arrived after 11:00am so their speciality breakfast dishes were over, however the classic breakfast such as eggs, ham and sausage run all day.

VANILLA MILK SHAKE $7.00Milkshakes are always a must order at whenever you are at a diner so we ordered a vanilla milkshake. The milkshake was significantly on the sweeter end and creamy, but not as "thick" as I personally prefer. It lacked that "hard" ice cream texture.

HILLTOP BURGER $15.00Going for Hilltop's signature burger, it consisted of a 5oz beef patty, double smoked bacon, grilled mushrooms and onions, lettuce, tomato and pickles with gooey cheese. The burger was on the leaner side, the mushrooms gave it some earthiness and the crispy bacon tasted great, but overall the beef was really dry due to cut of meat. If I were to nit pick, I personally prefer slices of bacon rather than diced too.

Instead of fries, we opted for a side of soup for an additional $3.00. The beef and potato soup exhibited depths of flavour, was very hearty, and tasted better than the burger.

MUSHROOM MOZZA BURGER $13.00Another burger we tried was the Mushroom Mozza that consisted of beef, mushrooms, molten mozza cheese, mayo, lettuce, tomato and pickles. Similar to the Hilltop Burger, the beef was once again on the dryer side. The side of fresh fries on the other hand tasted great - pillowy and fluffly on the interior although they were not the crispy variation.

THE MOUNTAIN BURGER $20Last of the burgers is one of the two Walk of Fames, the Mountain Burger. If you finish this or the Everest Burger, you get your picture taken and posted on their wall. This burger consisted of two 5oz housemade beef patties, a homemade pork patty, double smoked bacon, in-house ham, fried egg, onion rings, mushrooms, mozza, cheddar and processed cheese with homemade BBQ sauce along with hand-cut french fries!

This massive burger held up very well. The beef and pork patties were lightly seasoned and on the leaner as well as dryer side, but the fried egg had a perfectly runny yolk. The addition of lettuce and tomato brightened up the burger well and provided some moisture while the in-house ham was neither too dry nor salty. There were also hits of earthiness from the mushroom once again, texture from the crispy onions rings, smokiness from the bacon, and the BBQ sauce did not overwhelm.

BANANA PIE $7.00Okay, enough of the burgers! Hilltop Diner is known for their in-house pies so of course we ordered a few. First up and trying something out of my comfort zone, banana pie (I am not a fan of banana in dessert). The filling was smooth, fluffy and had a controlled level of sweetness. There were also strong hits of banana and the crust was crispy.

APPLE PIE $7.00Next up is a classic apple pie, which again had a perfect level of sweetness. The crust also adhered to the pie throughout each bite and was very flaky. And on top of that, the thick and chunky apple slices were well seasoned and cinnamony.

COCONUT CREAM PIE $7.00The last of the pies is the coconut cream, which was very light and fluffy. Both the banana pie along with the coconut cream were bang on in textures and flavours.

Hilltop Diner is known for, well, diner food, and the burgers we ordered as well as the pies are not a true representation of the restaurant. With that said, the burgers were on the drier side and not as enjoyable as if the beef was juicy. The pies on the other hand tasted great, we saw plenty of people grab pie on the go.POSITIVES- Great pies- Extensive menu- Authentic diner atmosphereNEGATIVES- Burgers could be more moist- Staff was indifferentHILLTOP DINER CAFE23904 Fraser Hwy Langley BC V2Z 2K8Phone 604 514 9424www.hilltopdiner.ca